It's just a sort of observation I want to confirm, John. MH made "nearly all" of the Fish when he was there, (to quote Mark Hill, p.30) I don't know how many other makers were competent enough to do these. I am just wondering if there might have been a break in their making until Joseph got good enough to give them another go.

With the introduction of date marks following his (MH's) departure, I have seen them on the cube vases, (my earliest being '75) on large Ming globe vase (again, my earliest is '75), on chalices (I'm not climbing up to check) and on Fish vases, but the earliest date I've seen on an actual Fish, is '76.

Logged

Cheers, Sue (M)

Three Wise Women would have asked for directions, arrived on time, delivered the baby, cleaned the stables and made a casserole...

I would be surprised if there was a long break in their production, only because if there was it could be like starting from scratch again. Some of the tips and techniques needed to make them might be forgotten, much harder to achieve after years of absence I would guess.

Do you think 'someone' might have had a chat to the seller then John, someone who's still buzzing from their MH sig find? With a bit of luck we'll get to see some of her other fishes too, I've given her the link to this thread as she has more than one fishy at home! Would be great to see some more pics.

The sig on the one on ebay looks to be Dobson, and a genuine inscription, which is a relief after a few dodgy ones around lately. Sue has an intriguing thought on this one too - I'll leave her air it as it was something that hadn't occured to me.